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Hot toddies may be viewed with skepticism by the medical establishment, but they are an undisputable remedy for a chilly night. The hot toddy is a very versatile drink and can be made with any kind of spirit; tea or hot water; honey; lemon or orange; and a range of spices. Cinnamon and nutmeg, traditional spices for a hot toddy, make the drink fragrant and seasonal. Honey is a popular add-in, and the name 'toddy' is thought to have been derived from the Hindu word for palm-tree sap. Pablo Hurtado, a mixologist at Bar Savona, created a scotch whiskey-based toddy inspired by his dad called the 'Hot Papi.' |
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When someone in my family would catch a nasty cold, one of the tried-and-true home remedies my Irish American mother used was the hot toddy. She'd boil a mug of water, add a shot of scotch whisky and a squeeze of lemon, and swirl in two teaspoons of honey to help ease a sore throat. Mostly debunked by modern medicine, the hot toddy now shows up more frequently in barrooms than sickrooms, and with good reason. The toddy is for the chilly night, the warm fireplace, the brisk afternoon, the romantic corner table. The seasonal tipple will be honored in New Orleans at the fourth annual Tales of the Toddy festival on December 10, as well as with its own national day of celebration on January 11. After the holiday hustle ends, we could all use a cheerful warm-up in the form of a fragrant, spiked sipper!
“The toddy is definitely making a comeback,” says cocktail historian Jared Brown, who is coauthor, with wife Anistatia Miller, of Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail and Spirituous Journey. “People are rediscovering classic drinks, and the toddy was already old centuries before the cocktail was born.” Indeed, for such a simple drink, the toddy has a pretty fascinating backstory. Like the word “punch,” which names another pre-Prohibition drink that's recently resurged in popularity, “toddy” is a Hindi term (tãri) for the sap drawn from a palm tree, which is the source of arrack, the original spirit used to make the drink—a process that is described in detail in Marco Polo's thirteenth-century memoir Il Milione.
Stranger than its etymology is that, according to the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, the hot toddy began as a cold quaff but was adapted to warm the bones (and spirits) of sailors and sea merchants chilled by long days on the water. British merchants from the East India Company found the drink and returned home with it. In Europe the arrack was soon replaced by whiskey, brandy, or rum, but the original combo of cinnamon, clove, and sugar remained part of the brew. Not long after, as New World citrus fruits became available to the merchant classes, oranges and lemons found their way into the drink permanently. Another common ingredient you'll find in the toddy is tea, which was also likely added by British merchants influenced by their travels.
Though its chief associations are British, the toddy soon jumped the pond. “Rum was the most common toddy spirit in colonial America, primarily because at that time the northeast—along with eastern Canada—was the largest rum-producing region in the world,” explains Brown. “However, you can make it with any spirit. I love a few slices of fresh ginger in a hot toddy, and I'm partial to toddies made with Irish whiskey or dark rum or gin or tequila, and—you get the idea! It's a very versatile drink.” (For those battling the sniffles, Brown suggests a Southern Comfort toddy: “Beats Robitussin on effectiveness, flavor, and overall style.”)
But as all things old are new behind the bar these days, toddies are suddenly becoming as hot as the name implies. You'll find them on the cocktail menus not only at ski resorts but also at chic city bars like Eastern Standard, in Boston; Bar Savona, just outside Philadelphia; Vermilion, in Alexandria, Virginia; and PDT, in New York, where at press time mixologist Jim Meehan was devising a toddycentric winter menu. When it opened a little over a year ago, Cafe Nell in Portland, Oregon, had only one toddy on its cocktail menu, but the drink was such a hit that Darren Creely, who owns the cozy American bistro with his husband, Van Creely, decided to make an entire menu of toddies this year—from the classic citrus and spice to a hot rum mojito. “The week we launched it, the weather was unseasonably warm,” says Creely with a laugh, “but within three days I had people coming in because they had heard about the menu and wanted to try this one or that one, despite the weather.” Word-of-mouth trendiness aside, Creely says the toddy's renewed appeal is more basic: “When it's cold and dreary, people want things that warm them on the inside when there's no sun to warm them on the outside. It's much more soothing to the soul.”
Cafe Nell's Classic Toddy
“Make sure you heat the mug beforehand,” says Creely. A toasty mug not only warms up the chilled and room-temperature ingredients faster, but keeps the drink warm longer.
1¾ oz. brandy
1 tsp. honey
1 slender lemon wedge
3 oz. hot water
1 cinnamon stick
Dash of nutmeg
In a classic glass Irish coffee mug, combine the honey, lemon, and brandy. Pour in hot water. Stir in the cinnamon stick and top with nutmeg.
Bar Savona's Hot Papi
Mixologist Pablo “Papi” Hurtado created this toddy for Bar Savona, but really he made it for his dad. “I had originally created a similar cocktail for my dad, who loves scotch whisky,” he says. “It is such a great spirit for this season, as it really warms you up.” He adds, “These days it seems like all cocktails are made from vodka, rum, tequila, or bourbon, but never scotch whisky. It's time to bring some classic cocktails and spirits back!”
2½ oz. scotch whisky
½ oz. Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
¾ oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1½ oz. agave syrup
Ground nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 long strips of lemon zest[maybe move cloves and lemon zest to end of ingredient list because they are mentioned last]
Boiling water
Combine the first four ingredients in a heatproof glass or mug. Top with boiling water. Sprinkle with ground nutmeg and stir with the cinnamon stick. For garnish, insert the cloves into the strips of lemon zest and add to the mug. Enjoy!
Millionaire Charlie
Created for last year's Tales of the Toddy festival by Rhiannon Enlil of Cure, the latest cocktail-centric spot in New Orleans, this version is mixed with tea and named for the city's infamous crime boss Charles Matranga (1857-1943), who liked his afternoon cuppa with a little extra oomph.
1¼ oz. Old New Orleans Crystal Rum
¾ oz. Bottega Limoncino grappa
¼ oz. Fee Brothers Warm Ginger Cordial syrup
3 oz. hot SerendipiTea Cake Walk (white tea with ginger)
candied ginger
1 lemon peel
Mix all ingredients in a heatproof glass or mug. Garnish with a piece of candied ginger and lemon peel.
Amy Zavatto is based in New York and writes about food, spirits, wine, and travel for Imbibe, New York magazine, The Ritz-Carlton magazine, Gotham, Frommer's, and Gourmet.com
Photography credits:
- Helene Toresdotter
- Melina Hammer
- Paul Poplis
- Johner
- Courtesy Bar Savona
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